Magnetic game of skill



Sept. l5, 1959 A. F. WASHBURN I MAGNETIC GAME OF SKILL Filed March 4,1958 xxxxa xx I I INVENOR. ALFRED FRASER WASHBURN ATTORNEY United StatesPatentu A W .7 .a.... ans

base aarsk t h e 9f aaisp a ai gr aai n ma ma The a e 'arieated .s Q-i ithe; P le 9 ike la t ar lq a a at th fewe m ends pf? the ma aes- T ese miss wit it IS, an? I ia-gua s? .qf m Aicemral. area u of ea e 191 ed.

Meter a iiiq s d i Ibis wand, is t d m gi; a s iri adedby senszsattat dms eatis sis av lan ea h othe T e ma s iefi :siii iii in i e wansim'a ia so qui a Player is saes ialia n h? sha Wai into the fenced area tocapture the treasure and toremove it. without contact by, either guard,he has scored a point in th e game. Players take turns in attempting toscore a maximum number of points representing suc- .cessful.capturesvof. the treasure. Aftereach capture,; the treasure is replaced.within the fenced area and a new attempt is made by..a player .to.captureit. Becauseofthe strongimagneticfields involved;Considerableskill will, be required to capture the treasure without interference bythe guards. It s er ore prit si el biestqit lX R iQQ to provide amagnetic game in which a loose removable paramagnetic body is guarded bya spring mounted permanent magnet from capture by a permanent magnetcarried on a wand.

A further object is to provide a game with a plurality of very flexiblesprings adjustably mounted on a baseboard, each of the springs carryinga permanent magnet at the free end thereof, the magnets being orientedwith poles of like polarity outermost.

A still further object is to provide a game having an 2,904,336 PatentedSept. 15, 1959 2 V areath re f enclqsedby ien e arid ha ii a me albady1.052%?15: i$PQ$dufl1 L Ib wi h flex ble sh nes sa ryiii e ane t ma ne sat th i end rra ed I 1. h h sa: beard owerli n thebad i m bile s nner ifli .obiee is to. prgi' sie .asa ilessribesi intheriiro ided wiih m9 ama net ea eetss a iii a i a. atzt tlissl9 qr=- 1 lis a-pe asati e ew ata ameembay aetli .ipa. a a sU re asi na -vie s ai -an enla ed a9 takennih aes r; W3 3 re E '1- .4 ss tiqna vie aken 91. 11a i a 2; Fig. 5 isesidevyiew. Fi l -in QfiR l fiIhWQl ansima a a tiedh ebyg 1 saqioaal-viq ta sen an linesaflip F-ieis a ew s m l r 0' i 2 s ar n art diet he ewi sp n reniqii di Fig. -,8,is a top plan yiew of another formofithe game. e iriiis to t e ske n the shawn 1 B. "2 ene all ies aii lfiat-Mar blo k hicfi $W a -b 29a .drth game. I he PR SI T Q- PP he bl ka afiq mad sirs i ar e -ares 16- li lase iap t atid a at i iea a site do theb qq s- Bash. naw ha a e-g e rass e t iiwhis fi ndsa ps i siee tall flimii a leA h h is i ht 41 91.1 than 1809 t sh w- Eash r Qy s anneditli h t strai h in a dl x ended ilesia Dlrms tl iii the o ves a e t ean portion Qt cg ledw e springs d 29' The r iia a e .iiise ed inhe-smiles ii e a ttliefl t e ges 1 m t at he be ame forc sad r athe grw-e wi h. the em i der o tlie' b dy portions 22, 24 extending upwardlyout of the grooves, The. Pa tsa w i h. t e beds ortions 13 the t n e lqti Qtv the stem es may beiianeedby i si n gs riiig around. t ev raqve iisprin s are this adjustably located in the grooves. Also; thebody iiisbe male lsm ei O ishqrt r by dis o aalnic la the enqp rt oi n thee ovcs- At tre .1112 at ea i i lai s i r de perm nent mea 2 .b o lasuitable eme oint. 28-. The spr ii s era P ead tha h will normally ovet; jg 'a'cen't'ral region or areaof th elbloel; with magnetsz g ilri mbile-s spensio thereaverri. t is. rc qn s e a 9)? tease fitfqrmski iardboard fib tboar ar. ther non-magnetic material. The fence may berectangular, Q FEL I 9513 3? any e a nti iqiis eeineiri a ar r t???.iiiaa i ts 1 r s iesl ne p e r qr ip e P9 9 at 1 .1195! forwardlyextead lia i a se th ens Q the magne s, e s i srr ii erein im P la ty.ey il a-ai e! a h 931 we no n a e a d sd in i r Within e n s as a mQ-vale bqs .33, @92 ai a b t ramagnet m tal It desired; this rrietal may beenclosed wholly or partially in a plastic or painted cover 34 as shownin Fig. 3. To lend realism to the game, the magnets may be painted at35, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, to resemble snake heads and the body33 may be formed in the shape of a miniature skull. Each of the magnets26 will be attracted toward the body 33 but this attraction will beresisted by the inherent resiliency in the bodies of the springs whichsimulate snakes.

In order to play the game, there is provided a wood or plastic wand inthe form of a cylindrical rod 36, best shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Insertedin one end of the rod is a cylindrical permanent magnet 38. This magnetis oriented with its outer end or outer pole N of the same polarity asthat of the forward ends of the magnets 26 so that when the Wand isthrust into the fence to capture the body 33, with its leading tipdirected toward the spring mounted magnets 25, the approaching tip willrepel the magnets 26. However, continued movement of the wand into thefence toward the treasure T will bring the other end of the magnet 38within the area of the magnets 26 and thereby attract said magnetswhereby said magnets 26 may capture the treasure before the magnet 38 ofthe wand. Thus, any attempt made by the player to thrust the wand intothe fence to capture body 33 will be subject to interference by thespring mounted magnets which are suspended in their mutually overlappingmagnetic fields so that they are mobile in three planes or dimensions.With some practice the player can learn to thrust the catcher C inunderneath the guards G to capture the treasure T and remove it beforethe guards can overcome their inertia and respond to intercept thecapture. The magnets 26 will tend to follow magnet 38 toward body 33 sothat the capture will require some dexterity and skill.

One or more magnet carrying rods 36 may be used to play this game inwhich the shapes and lengths of the body members 22 and 24 may bechanged as desired.

While the game is illustrated in Fig. 1 as having only two guards G andis played with one catcher C, it is possible to have four guards G andtwo catchers C, as shown in Fig. 8. A single treasure T will still beused disposed in the ring 30*, here shown as circular. The player willmanipulate the two catchers until one of them captures the treasure T.Since there are now four guards to avoid, greater dexterity will berequired of the player to score a point by capturing the treasurewithout interception by the guards. Each of the permanent magnets 26 andpermanent magnets 38 in the game of Fig. 8 are oriented similarly to themagnets 26 and 38, respectively, of the game of Fig. 1 so that fourmagnets 26 are influenced by the movements of magnets 38 as they enterthe overlapping moving magnetic fields of magnets 26.

The magnets 26 may either be shaped to form the head of a snake or thelike, or a suitable permanent magnet may be enclosed in a plastic orother material shaped to simulate the snake head or the like.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of myinvention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to theprecise constructions herein disclosed and that various changes andmodifica' tions may be made within the scope of the invention as definedin the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent is:

l. A magnetic game, comprising a nonmagnetic baseboard having an upperflat surface, said baseboard having a plurality of closely spacedcircular grooves in said surface, a plurality of coil springsrespectively anchored at one end in the grooves, with said one end beingslidably adjustable in the groove, a permanent magnet mounted at theother free end of each spring in suspension so that the magnets are freeto move over the space between the grooves, a confined body ofparamagnetic metal removably disposed on said surface in the spacebetween the grooves, and at least one cylindrical nonmagnetic wandcarrying a permanent magnet at the free end thereof, said wand beingadapted to reach said body for engagement by said latter magnet, themagnets carried by said springs tending to interfere with saidengagement.

2. In a magnetic game of skill, a support, a body of paramagnetic metal,removably disposed on the support, a plurality of springs mounted on thesupport, said springs carrying permanent magnets having magnetic fieldswhich overlap each other, engagement between said body and each of themagnets being prevented by resisting resilience in each spring, and awand carrying a permanent magnet and adapted to engage said body onbeing thrust through said magnetic fields, the magnets carried by saidsprings tending to intercept engagement of the body by said wand magnet.

3. In a magnetic game of skill, a support, a body of paramagnetic metalremovably disposed on the support, a plurality of springs mounted on thesupport, said springs carrying permanent magnets having magnetic fieldswhich overlap each other, engagement between said body and each of themagnets being prevented by resisting resilience in each spring, and awand carrying a permanent magnet and adapted to engage said body onbeing thrust through said magnetic fields, the magnets carried by saidsprings tending to intercept engagement of the body by said wand magnet,the magnets carried by the spring having forward opposed ends of likepolarity so that said forward ends repel each other and keep the springmounted magnets freely and mobilely suspended over said body.

4. In a magnetic game of skill, a support, a body of paramagnetic metalremovably disposed on the support, a plurality of springs mounted on thesupport, said springs carrying permanent magnets having magnetic fieldswhich overlap each other, engagement between said body and each of themagnets being prevented by resisting resilience in each spring, and awand carrying a permanent magnet and adapted to engage said body onbeing thrust through said magnetic fields, the magnets carried by saidsprings tendings to intercept engagement of the body by said wandmagnet, the magnets carried by the springs having forward opposed endsof like polarity so that said forward ends repel each other and keep themagnets freely and mobilely suspended over said body, said wand magnethaving a free end with a polarity similar to the polarity of the forwardopposed ends of the magnets carried by the springs so that said springmounted magnets tend to follow said wand magnet when the latter isthrust through said magnetic fields to engage the body of paramagneticmetal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS606,744 St. John July 5, 1898 678,608 Woolf July 16, 1901 1,509,873Ordway Sept. 30, 1924 2,622,366 Abplanalp Dec. 23, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS677,746 Germany July 14, 1939

